Winding apparatus

ABSTRACT

A winding apparatus for winding thread or the like onto packages at high speed comprises a thread guide consisting of a slot formed between the adjacent, closely spaced shaped edges of two coaxial cylinders of the same diameter, rotating together, the slot having helical segments, alternately left and right handed. The thread enters and leaves the slot at points which lie in a plane at right angles to the axis of rotation of the cylinder; preferably these points lie on or near a diameter of the cylinder.

[ Feb.8,1972

ilnite States atet Starke 3,311,311 3/1967Furst......,..............................242/35.6

FOREIGN PATENTS OR APPLICATIONS [54] WINDING APPARATUS [72] Inventor:Hans Starke, Maidenhead, England K.D.G. Instruments Limited Apr. 3, 1969[73] Assignee:

[22] Filed:

354,753 8/1905 France..............,...................242/43.2 178,67711/1906 Germany.... ....242/43.2

d m m a [21] Appl. No.: 813,120

Primary Examiner-Stanley N. Gilreath Attorney-Laurence E. Laubscher [30]Foreign Application Priority Data Apr. 11, 1968 Great 1 1 ABSTRACT Awinding apparatus for winding thread or the like onto packages at highspeed comprises a thread guide consisting of x 3 4M W5 a d a 4 8 Q0 h 5m6 mm [52] US. Cl. [51] Int. Cl. [58] Field of Search a slot formedbetween the adjacent, closely spaced shaped edges of two coaxialcylinders of the same diameter, rotating together, the slot havinghelical segments, alternately left and right handed. The thread entersand leaves the slot at points [56] References Cited UNlTED STATESPATENTS which lie in a plane at right angles to the axis of rotation ofthe 342/433-2 cylinder; preferably these points lie on or near adiameter of 242/43 2 the cylinder.

4 Claims, 8 Drawing Figures SH 8 56 O MOOO 009009 111.11 ll/l 0578 .l 796 2058 6 7 4 oa 329 322 61 38 3 PAIENIEUFEB 8 I972 SHEET 1, 0F 4 m N E am ATTORNEY PATENTEDFEB 81972 3, 0, 7

sum 2 or 4 INVENTOR ATTORNEY 'PATENTEDFEB 81912 3,640,478

sum 3 or 4 m NW/ mm 4 I mm Qw 1 vm INVENTOR ATTORNEY /V 8 k m PATENIEnme um suicf w or: 4

INVENTOR ATTORNEY WINDING APPARATUS The present invention relates to thehigh-speed winding of linear material on to packages. The wound materialmay be string, cord wire, and especially textile yarn and thread, andthe material may be of circular or noncircular cross-sectional shape.Ribbon or tape material can be wound by apparatus in accordance with theinvention, but for convenience the wound material will hereinafter bereferred to as thread. It is to be understood that the invention is notthereby limited to the winding of thread.

The package on to which thread is wound can be a cop, reel, spool orother form, and may have a cylindrical or conical external surface toreceive the winding, and the package may or may not have one or moreflanges. Thread may be wound on to such packages in transfer from oneprocess to another in the course of manufacture, or for final windingbefore sale. The winding may be a simple layer winding, with successiveturns closely side by side, and with successive layers wound from end toend in alternate directions, or the winding may be in cross-lay in whichthe wound thread is traversed rapidly from end to end of the woundlength, every few turns, so that turns of adjacent layers cross at asubstantial angle and form a pattern in which there may be one, one anda half, two or more loops in the wound length of the package. In somecases, the winding may be random and with a traverse such as to providean approximately level wind.

It is desirable to produce a wound package at high speed. It is alsodesirable that the winding should be truly cylindrical or conical, asrequired, under appropriate tension to provide a firmly wound packageand, where an end flange is not used, with a flat end surface free frombulges. Hitherto, so far as we are aware, it has not been possible inwinding to cross-lay such material on to a package at high speed so asto form an acceptably cylindrical or conical package; in practice it hasnot been possible to carry out precision cross-lay winding at speeds atmuch above 2,000 r.p.m. of the package.

The present invention includes a method of and apparatus for windingthread on to a package in which the thread is guided and traversed bypassing through a slot formed in a rotating hollow guide.

In a preferred form of the invention, described in more detailhereinafter, the guide slot is formed between the complementarily shapedspaced adjacent edges of two coaxial hollow cylinders, of the sameexternal diameter and mounted for rotational movement together about thecommon axis. The slot thus formed is composed of a series of sections,preferably four. Each section is a segment of a helix, the helices beingof the same pitch and of equal angular extent, each occupying 90 of theperiphery of the composite cylindrical shape formed by the twocylinders. The thread enters the slot at one point, passes through theinterior of the composite cylinder, and emerges at approximately thediametrical point.

With this arrangement, as the guide rotates, the thread will betraversed; the points at which the thread enters and leaves the slot aresubstantially in the same plane, at right angles to the axis of thedrum, the drum and the package being rotated about their respective axesat a speed ratio appropriate to the desired lay.

In an apparatus embodying the invention it has been found possible towind packages with sufficient precision at high package speeds of atleast 10,000 r.p.m. The apparatus permits variation in the speed ratiosof the package and the guide, to vary the pattern of lay from parallelloops to cross-lay with one, one and half, or more loops laid on thelength of the package.

Other features and advantages of the invention will appear from thefollowing description of an embodiment thereof, given by way of example,in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, in which:

FIG. 1 is a diagram showing the general arrangement of an apparatus forwinding cylindrical packages;

FIG. 2 is a plan view of a practical fonn of thread-winding apparatus,of the type indicated in FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is a side view of the same apparatus, looking in the direction ofarrow 3 in FIG. 2;

FIG. 43 is a development of the cylindrical surface of the guide drum,on a reduced scale;

FIG. 5 is a diagrammatic cross-sectional view of the guide drum taken onthe line 5-5 in FIG. 6;

FIG. 6 is a diagrammatic longitudinal sectional view of the guide drumtaken on the line 6-6 in FIG. 5;

FIG. 7 is a diagrammatic view looking in the direction 7 in FIG. 5, andindicating the movement of the thread during the first of movement ofthe guide drum, and

FIG. 8 is a diagrammatic view looking in the direction 7 in FIG. 5, whenthe guide drum has revolved 90 from the position of FIG. 6 and indicatesthe movement of the thread material between 90 and 180 movement of theguide drum.

FIG. 1 indicates the general arrangement of a thread-winding apparatusshown, by way of example, in this case for winding thread from a packageat 10 on to a package at 11. The thread 12 passes from the package I0,over a guide 13, through two electrically controllable thread-tensioningdevices 14', thence through a horizontal slot in a guide plate 16 andthrough a guide drum 17. The thread emerges from the guide drum andpasses over the horizontal edge of a further guide plate 18, and is thenwound on to the package at 11; the thread is traversed back and forthalong the length of the package by the guiding action of the drum.

The guide drum 117 and package 11 are mounted on shafts 20 and 21respectively, the shafts being driven at a predetermined speed ratiothrough a drive box 22 and clutch 23 from a prime mover 24. The guidedrum 17 is carried on a pivoted arm 25, and substantiallycounterbalanced by an adjustable tension spring 26; movement is dampedby dashpot 27. The thread is wound on to the package 11 and as thepackage increases in diameter the wound package, which bears againstguide plate 18, drives the plate so that arm 25 pivots; the guide plateremains in contact with the surface of the wound thread on the packageit under the tension of spring 26.

it is desirable that the tension on the thread as it is being woundshould be varied in accordance with the wound diameter of the package,and so a control means 28, responsive to movement of arm 25, is arrangedto vary the tension effected by the tensioning devices 14 and 15.

A practical form of apparatus for winding thread, in which a very highwinding rate can be achieved, is shown in FIGS. 2 and 3. This apparatuscomprises baseplates 30 and 31 mounted on supports 32. Baseplate 30carries a prime mover, corresponding to 24 in FIG. 1, consisting of anelectric motor. 0n baseplate 31 are mounted two similar vertical,parallel support plates 33 and 34 and a third support plate 35 parallelto the other two. A main drive shaft 36 is joumaled in the two plates 33and 34, the shaft being driven by a belt drive including pulley 37 onthe shaft of motor 24, a pulley 38 on shaft 36 and driving belt 39.

Clutch 23 is disposed on shaft 36, for coupling pulley 38 to shaft 36;the shaft 21 on which the package 11 is wound is driven from shaft 36 bya drive which includes a pinion $0 on shaft 36, meshing with an idlergear 41, mounted on shaft 42 journaled in the plate 33, gear 41 in turnmeshing with a gear 43 on a further shaft 44, journaled in the plates 33and 34. So that the gear ratio afforded by these gears may be readilychanged, the gears 40, 41 and 413 are arranged on the outside of plate33, as will be seen in FIG. 2.

An infinitely variable ratio drive is provided between shaft 44 andshaft 21. This comprises a taper pulley 45 on shaft 44 and a furthertaper pulley 47, of opposite taper, on shaft 21. A flat belt 48 couplesthe two taper pulleys 45 and 47 on the lateral position of the belt onthe two pulleys, and the tension of the belt, is controlled by a pivotedspring-loaded jockey pulley 50. Pulley 50 is mounted on a block assembly51, which can be moved laterally to shift the belt and thereby to changethe effective speed ratio between shafts 44 and 21', the block assemblycan move along a guide bar 52 mounted at its end in plates 33 and 34. Inthis way, shaft 21 can be driven at the desired winding speed, thewinding speed of shaft 20 with respect to shaft 21 being determinedprimarily by the gear ratio of the gear train 40, 41, 43 with smallvariations made possible by the variable gear provided by pulley 45,belt 48 and pulley 47. The end of shaft 21 has a reduced portion 21a asshown, on which is disposed a suitable friction clutch means or the liketo receive and hold the package 1 l.

The mechanism as thus far described operates to drive the spindle 21, onwhich the package 11 is secured, at a predetermined speed from the shaftof motor 24. Means are also provided for driving the shaft 20, on whichthe guide drum 17 is carried. The drive is effected in a manner whichpermits the guide drum to be movable towards and away from the windingof package 11.

For this purpose, shaft 20 is carried in two arms 54, 55, which arerigidly fixed to a cross shaft 49, carried in its ends in bearings inthe support plates 34 and 35. The two arms are bridged by two bars 56,57, which together correspond to the guide member 16 of FIG. 1, theadjacent edges of the bars being slightly spaced apart so as to providebetween them a guide slot 58 for the thread. Guide plate 18 is mountedon a bar 59 also carried between the two arms 54 and 55.

An arm 60, fastened to shaft 49 so as to move integrally with arms 54,55, is attached to one end of spring 26, the other end of which isanchored to the baseplate 31. Also attached to arm 60 is one end ofdashpot 27, the other end of which is also attached to the samebaseplate. The effect of the tension of spring 26 is made adjustable,for example by providing alternative attachment holes 61 for the spring,so that the moving system including guide drum 17, arms 54, 55 and arm60, and the attached parts, is substantially counterbalanced about shaft49.

Shaft 20 is driven from shaft 36 by means of a chain drive. A sprocket63 is secured to shaft 36 and chain 64 passes round the sprocket andround a sprocket 65 on an extension of shaft 49. The chain is tensionedby an adjustable jockey sprocket 66. A further short chain drive fromshaft 49 to shaft 20 is provided by means of sprocket 67, sprocket 68and chain 69. Since the arms 54 and 55 pivot about shaft 49, the armscan pivot whilst the drive to shaft 20 is maintained.

In the design of high-speed thread-handling devices, the limitation onthe speed that can be used is set largely by the need to keep within thebreaking strength of the thread. In the case of a high-speedthread-winding device such as that described, limitation is set to alarge extent by the nature of the thread traversing guide, especially inrelation to the tensioning means for the thread. The tension must beadequate to avoid defects such as poorly shaped ends, with a cylindricalor conical wind; loose winding of the thread on the package may result,which increases the diameter of the wound package and efi'ecting itsfeel. On the other hand, the higher the tension, the more likely becomebreakages of the thread, due to the increased forces arising from smallrapid movements of the thread, and especially those due to the threadguiding and tensioning means.

In the embodiment of the invention being described, a particularlysatisfactory winding device is embodied. This is shown more clearly inFIG. 2, and diagrammatically in FIGS. 4 to 8.

As shown in FIG. 2, the guide is formed as a continuous slot, having ashape which lies on the surface of a right circular cylinder. Aconvenient method of forming the slot, and the method adopted in theembodiment of the invention being described, is for the slot to bedefined by the complementarily shaped edges of two cylindrical members,as shown at 71 and 72 respectively in FIG. 2, which together make up thewinding guide drum 17. The two cylindrical sections are securely mountedufl shaft 20, so that at all times the two sections move together,leaving the slot, shown at 73, of constant dimension. The slot iscomposed of a series of sections, each section being a segment of ahelix. There are an even number of sections; each helix is of the samepitch and occupies the same angular extent of the periphery of the drum.The helical segments are alternately left-handed and right-handed. Thearrangement is such that the thread can enter the slot at one point,pass into the interior of the drum and emerge from the slot at a secondpoint, the two points being substantially in the same plane transverseto the axis of rotation of the drum; further, as the drum rotates, thepoints of entry and emergence of the thread into and from the drum willchange and will move in a direction along the drum axis but will alwayslie in a plane at right angles to that axis.

There are various configurations of slot which will meet theseconditions, but the preferred fonn is one in which the slot is formedfrom four helical sections, the thread entering and leaving the slot atsubstantially diametrically opposite points. This arrangement is adoptedin the mechanism described and shown, and the slot will be seen in FIGS.2, 4, 7 and 8. The slot has four sections 74, 75, 76 and 77, eachoccupying of the periphery of the drum cylinder. The thread, guided bythe slot 58 between guide bars 56 and 57, enters the drum at one pointsuch as 79 passing over the central shaft 20 and emerging from the slotat a point 78, defined by the intersection of the edge of the guideplate and the slot in the drum.

The slot section 74 is part of a true helix, as will be seen from thedevelopment of FIG. 4, so that if the thread is initially at the pointa, indicated in FIG. 7 then if the drum is rotated through equal angularincrements, indicated at b, c, d, e. f and g the diread will bedisplaced by equal linear displacements indicated by points b, c, d,e,f' and g along the upper edge of the guide plate 18. Thus, if theshaft rotates at uniform speed, the thread will be guided at a linearspeed along the edge of plate 18, in the direction of arrow 81. Duringthe next quarter revolution of the drum, then in similar manner equalangular displacements of the drum in the direction of arrow 82,corresponding to points )1, j, k, l, m and n, the thread will be guidedthrough successive equal increments h, j, k, I, m and n, as indicated inFIG. 8. The thread will accordingly be moved at linear speed in thereverse direction, indicated by arrow 82. In this way the thread iswound with a linear speed of traverse along the package 1 1.

Because of the symmetry of slot 73, at the moment when the thread is,for example, leaving the slot at point 78, in FIG. 4, corresponding to,say, point a in FIG. 7, it will enter the drum through the point 79corresponding to point n in FIG. 8, which is diametrically opposite. Asseen in FIG. 4, point 79 lies immediately behind point 78. Again, whenthe thread is emerging from any other point it will enter the drum at apoint which in FIG. 7 lies immediately behind that point and so at alltimes the thread within the drum will be in a direction substantially atright angles to the axis of the drum, in the manner indicated in FIG. 6.

This disposition of the thread passing through the guide drum appears tobe of determining importance in enabling a high speed of winding of thepackage to be obtained.

While the embodiment of the invention described is shown as winding aparallel-sided package, the mechanism can be readily adapted for windingnoncylindrical packages, such as conical packages; the length of thewinding on the package is determined by the axial extent of the helicalsegments of the slot 73, but a guide drum can be readily removed andreplaced when another winding length is desired. Different lays ofthread can be obtained by changing the change gears 40, 41 and 43 andthe variable ratio friction gear provided by taper pulleys 45 and 47 andthe movable belt 48 enables the winding speed to be adjusted to a smalldegree, to make it possible to wind closely threads of different count.

The tensioning adjusting means operates in the manner described inconnection with FIG. 1, but is not shown in FIGS. 2 and 3. A convenientmethod of effecting the desired control is to arrange for movement ofarms 54 and 55 to control a variable resistor, in turn controlling thecurrent fed to the variable tensioning devices I4, 15.

What is claimed is:

1. High-speed filament-winding apparatus comprising a. a stationaryframe (30-34);

b. a filament source 10);

c. a spindle shaft (21) rotatably supported by said frame;

d. means for guiding a filament strand from said source to said spindleshaft for forming a wound package thereon, said guide means including 1.a guide housing (55-57) pivotally connected with said frame for movementabout a pivot axis (49) parallel with the axis of said spindle shaft;

2. hollow guide drum means (17) joumaled in said housing for rotationabout an axis (20) parallel with said spindle shaft axis, said drummeans containing in the cylindrical wall portion thereof a helical slot(73);

. first (56, 57) and second (18) transverse guide bar means connectedwith said housing parallel with the longitudinal axis of, and arrangedon opposite sides of, said hollow guide drum means, respectively, saidsecond guide bar means being arranged adjacent said filament package,said guide bar means being operable with said helical slot to effectdisplacement of said filament axially of said filament package whilepreventing movement of said filament circumferentially of said guidedrum means;

e. first drive means (24, 37, 39, 38, 23, 36, 63-469) for driving saidguide means at a given rotational speed;

f. adjustable drive means (40-52) for driving said spindle shaft at apredetermined speed ratio relative to the speed of rotation of saidguide drum means; and

g. resilient means (26) biasing said housing in a direction to effectperipheral engagement of said second guide means with the filamentpackage wound on said spindle shaft, whereby as the diameter of saidfilament package increases during winding, said housing, said guide drummeans and said guide bar means are pivoted as a unit away from saidspindle axis.

2. Apparatus as defined in claim 1, wherein said adjustable drive meansincludes interchangeable gear drive means (40-42) providing a coarsespeed adjustment, and an infinitely variable drive means (45-52)providing a fine speed adjustment.

3. Apparatus as defined in claim 1, wherein said first and second guidebar means are arranged in generally diametrically opposed relationrelative to said guide drum means, whereby the filament enters andleaves the guide drum slot at respective points lying approximately on adiameter of said guide drum means.

4. Apparatus as defined in claim 1, wherein said housing is pivotallyconnected intermediate its ends with said frame, wherein said guide drumand guide bar means are arranged adjacent one end of said housing, andfurther wherein said resilient means are arranged adjacent the other endof said housing on the opposite side of the pivot axis thereof from saidguide drum and guide bar means.

1. High-speed filament-winding apparatus comprising a. a stationaryframe (30-34); b. a filament source (10); c. a spindle shaft (21)rotatably supported by said frame; d. means for guiding a filamentstrand from said source to said spindle shaft for forming a woundpackage thereon, said guide means including
 1. a guide housing (55-57)pivotally connected with said frame for movement about a pivot axis (49)parallel with the axis of said spindle shaft;
 2. hollow guide drum means(17) journaled in said housing for rotation about an axis (20) parallelwith said spindle shaft axis, said drum means containing in thecylindrical wall portion thereof a helical slot (73);
 3. first (56, 57)and second (18) transverse guide bar means connected with said housingparallel with the longitudinal axis of, and arranged on opposite sidesof, said hollow guide drum means, respectively, said second guide barmeans being arranged adjacent said filament package, said guide barmeans being operable with said helical slot to effect displacement ofsaid filament axially of said filament package while preventing movementof said filament circumferentially of said guide drum means; e. firstdrive means (24, 37, 39, 38, 23, 36, 63-69) for driving said guide drummeans at a given rotational speed; f. adjustable drive means (40-52) fordriving said spindle shaft at a predetermined speed ratio relative tothe speed of rotation of said guide drum means; and g. resilient means(26) biasing said housing in a direction to effect peripheral engagementof said second guide means with the filament package wound on saidspindle shaft, whereby as the diameter of said filament packageincreases during winding, said housing, said guide drum means and saidguide bar means are pivoted as a unit away from said spindle axis. 2.hollow guide drum means (17) journaled in said housing for rotationabout an axis (20) parallel with said spindle shaft axis, said drummeans containing in the cylindrical wall portion thereof a helical slot(73);
 2. Apparatus as defined in claim 1, wherein said adjustable drivemeans includes interchangeable gear drive means (40-42) providing acoarse speed adjustment, and an infinitely variable drive means (45-52)providing a fine speed adjustment.
 3. Apparatus as defined in claim 1,wherein said first and second guide bar means are arranged in generallydiametrically opposed relation relative to said guide drum means,whereby the filament enters and leaves the guide drum slot at respectivepoints lying approximately on a diameter of said guide drum means. 3.first (56, 57) and second (18) transverse guide bar means connected withsaid housing parallel with the longitudinal axis of, and arranged onopposite sides of, said hollow guide drum means, respectively, saidsecond guide bar means being arranged adjacent said filament package,said guide bar means being operable with said helical slot to effectdisplacement of said filament axially of said filament package whilepreventing movement of said filament circumferentially of said guidedrum means; e. first drive means (24, 37, 39, 38, 23, 36, 63-69) fordriving said guide drum means at a given rotational speed; f. adjustabledrive means (40-52) for driving said spindle shaft at a predeterminedspeed ratio relative to the speed of rotation of said guide drum means;and g. resilient means (26) biasing said housing in a direction toeffect peripheral engagement of said second guide means with thefilament package wound on said spindle shaft, whereby as the diameter ofsaid filament package increases during winding, said housing, said guidedrum means and said guide bar means are pivoted as a unit away from saidspindle axis.
 4. Apparatus as defined in claim 1, wherein said housingis pivotally connected intermediate its ends with said frame, whereinsaid guide drum and guide bar means are arranged adjacent one end ofsaid housing, and further wherein said resilient means are arrangedadjacent the other end of said housing on the opposite side of the pivotaxis thereof from said guide drum and guide bar means.